The U.S. could tally more than 87,000 new coronavirus deaths over the next three weeks as the nation grapples with the deadliest phase of the pandemic, according to a projection from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The CDC’s national ensemble forecast — an aggregate of dozens of independently developed forecasts — estimates the U.S. will report a total of anywhere from 440,000 to 477,000 COVID-19 deaths by the week ending Feb. 6.
As of Friday, the U.S. had confirmed more than 23,000,000 total cases and 389,581 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. More than 128,000 people across the nation are currently hospitalized and the seven day rolling average for new deaths is more than 3,200.
The grim projection from the CDC comes as the first few weeks of the new year have been the deadliest of the pandemic yet, with several days setting records. More than 40,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 since the beginning of January, with more than 4,000 new deaths reported on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to The Covid Tracking Project.
